Archive - 2013 - blog

Once a year, penguins experience a catastrophic molt. (Yes, that’s the official term.) Most birds molt (lose feathers and regrow them) a few at a time throughout the year, but penguins lose them all at once.

Gentoo penguins “porpoise” by jumping out of the water. They can move faster through air than water, so will often porpoise to escape from a predator.

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Most penguins swim underwater at around four to seven miles per hour (mph), but the fastest penguin—the gentoo (Pygoscelis papua)—can reach top speeds of 22 mph!  read more »

To the Health of the Earth - healthy we cannot be unless the earth is.

#1 most popular, all time (as of April 20, 2013) - 489,898 reads
"SOS Amazon": every second we lose 1.5 acres of rainforests once covering 14% of earth land surface, now a mere 6%

#2 most popular, all time (as of April 20, 2013) - 342,276 reads
Zoo Atlanta celebrates arrival of baby panda, 2nd cub of mother Lun Lun and only panda born in US in 2008 so far

#3 most popular, all time (as of April 20, 2013) - 314,515 reads
Solar system moving 100000 mph faster than thought; 15% speed increase translates to doubling of mass of Milky Way

Image courtesy of www.amazonwatch.org, Thomas Marent, impactlab.com, wikipedia, Sipa Press / Rex Features, Atlanta Zoo / AP Photo, John Spink / Atlanta Journal-Constitution, scienceclass.ning.com, lns.mit.edu, and gcsescience.com

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As of April 14, 2013 at 02:52:27 AM GMT, the Outstanding Public Debt is over $16.8 trillion

On December 15 in 1791 the Founding Fathers who gave birth to the United States created the 2nd Amendment. On Friday, April 12, 2013,
“uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty”? see the 53-46 vote

The Statement of Purpose from the bill read:
“To uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.”  read more »

Best documentary feature winners Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn accept their award onstage for "Searching for Sugarman," about the reclusive Detroit musician Rodriguez, at the 85th annual Academy Awards.

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'Searching for Sugar Man' Wins Oscar, and More Praise for Rodriguez
"Searching for Sugar Man," honored with more than 30 awards in the last year, won the big one when it was named best documentary at the 85th annual Academy Awards. Director Malik Bendjelloul's film about the forgotten musician Rodriguez capped its journey that began at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival where Sony Pictures Classics acquired the film, leading to a theatrical release in July.

(below content may contain spoilers for the film)

Sixto Díaz Rodríguez (born July 10, 1942) is a folk musician, wildly popular, extremely successful and influential in South Africa, mistakenly rumored to have committed suicide. In his home country - America, no one knows about him, about his music - two little-sold albums in the early 1970s.  read more »

The world's first Earth Hour Forest will soon be created in the East African nation of Uganda, to fight against the 6000 hectares of deforestation that occurs in the country every month.

*update* 23 March, 2013 - Earth Hour is here again -
Millions of people in thousands of cities and towns across the world to switch off their lights for an hour at 8.30pm local time on Saturday 23 March to show their concern for the environment. Some of the key landmarks that will mark the event include the Sydney opera house and Harbour bridge, Petronas towers in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore's Marina Bay Sands, Tokyo tower, Taipei 101, the Bird's Nest in Beijing, the Gateway of India, the world's tallest building the Burj Khalifa, the Ancient Citadel of Erbil in Kurdistan, Table Mountain, the Bosphorus Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, the Brandenburg Gate, the UK Houses of Parliament, Buckingham palace, the Empire State Building, Niagara Falls and Los Angeles airport. Landmarks switching their lights off for the first time for Earth Hour this year include Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue and Florence's Statue of David.
Iconic landmarks plunged into darkness for Earth Hour

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For Earth Hour 2013, Landmarks In 7,000 Cities Will Go Dark  read more »

Newt Gingrich: Rand Paul is a Pioneer of The Future 3/7/13

A typical American tradition is shaking the world on March 6, 2013. Old school Filibuster, unheard of anywhere else in the world, well-portrayed in the famous movie “Mr. Smith goes to Washington” (starring the handsome James Stewart, added by Library of Congress to the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant").

Few do not know Jimmy Stewart as “Mr. Smith”, but no one would imagine such an old-fashioned filibuster was happening on Wednesday, March 6 – Senator Rand Paul held the floor for 12 hours 52 minutes, talking into midnight (official start time was 11:47am), simply to demand a direct answer to a direct question... Senator Paul: "at about 6:30 p.m., something extraordinary happened. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who has been recovering from a stroke, came to the floor to give me something. I was not allowed to drink anything but water or eat anything but the candy left in our Senate desks. But he brought me an apple and a thermos full of tea — the same sustenance Jimmy Stewart brought to the Senate floor in the movie 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.' That was a moment I will never forget."  read more »

*update* 21 Aug, 2014 Before any international trip Pope Francis visits Benedict XVI, a key Vatican archbishop revealed, noting the good relations between the two and how Pope Francis is carrying forward Benedict's vision.
Pope Francis: "He [Benedict XVI] opened a door that is institutional, not exceptional." "Let us think about what he said, I have got old, I do not have the strength. It was a beautiful gesture of nobility, of humility and courage." "He is a man of wisdom, of nuance that is good for me to hear him. And he encourages me sufficiently too."
*update* 06 June 2013 Pope Benedict XVI is on Facebook
*update* 23 March 2013 - Together Pope and Pope Emeritus make history with most powerful message: Beauty of Humility and Harmoney goes beyond religion Historic moment: 'We're brothers': Pope meets ex-pope: they kneel, side-by-side, pray together before lunch Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus BenedictThe two men dressed in white embraced warmly on the helipad in the gardens of Castel Gandolfo [photo by Osservatore Romano
] And in a series of gestures that ensued, Benedict made clear that he considered Francis to be pope while Francis made clear he considered his predecessor to be very much a revered brother and equal.  read more »